It is desirable to perform image processing using conventional non-parallel processors. It is particularly desirable to process digital video images in real time using such processors. One of the problems associated with such processing is that conventional non-parallel processors have processing bandwidth limitations that often preclude the real-time implementation of many conventional image processing techniques for digital video images of desired sizes and resolutions.
When digital images are processed using non-parallel processors, it is conventional to process the image pixel data serially, i.e., by repeating the application of each mathematical operation to each pixel value of each row of the image independently.
For example, in the known video compression technique of vector quantization, all or part of a frame of video data is encoded based upon the differences between corresponding pixels in the previous frame and the current frame of data. When vector dequantization is performed to decode an image that was compressed using vector quantization, each pixel value c.sub.i of the current frame is generated by adding a corresponding difference value d.sub.i to the corresponding pixel value p.sub.i of the previously decoded frame. In conventional non-parallel processing, this is done by applying the addition operation once for each pixel independently, for example, in a loop that is repeated for each pixel of each row of each frame of video data.
Because of the processing bandwidth limitations of conventional non-parallel processors, conventional image processing techniques (such as vector dequantization) cannot be performed in real time on images of certain sizes and resolutions due to the volume of data to be processed.
What are needed are improvements in conventional image processing techniques for processing images of desired sizes and resolutions that meet the processing bandwidth limitations of conventional non-parallel processors and thereby provide real-time processing capabilities.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to overcome the disadvantages and drawbacks of the known art and to provide digital image processing techniques that improve the capability of conventional non-parallel processors to process images of desired sizes and resolutions in real time.
It is a particular object of this invention to provide an image processing system with improved capabilities for performing vector dequantization of encoded video images in real time.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the detailed description of a preferred embodiment which follows.